Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-29-Speech-4-028"
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"en.20070329.5.4-028"2
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"Ladies and gentlemen, I would say that the deployment of US military bases is the most divisive issue in Czech politics at the moment. There are two aspects to the issue. Firstly, there is a clear willingness on the part of the government to accept the base despite the public’s misgivings: the latest polls suggest that 60% of those questioned were against the base and 25% in favour. The second point is the split along party lines, whereby the opposition on the left favours a referendum and opposes the base, while the right wing of the government is against the referendum and in favour of the base.
I mention this because I feel it is crucial for the EU to take a clear stance on this issue. Washing one’s hands of the matter on the grounds that it concerns bilateral relations between the Czech Republic or Poland and the United States is tantamount to sidestepping an issue that will very soon start to take on a Europe-wide dimension. The Union has to be capable of saying unpalatable things. We are told that negotiations with Russia are ongoing. Yet the current indications are that these negotiations serve only to conceal the fact that the global anti-missile defence system has already been built. Mr Solana also negotiated before the order was given to bomb Yugoslavia. There were negotiations before the intervention in Iraq, too. Experience has shown that negotiations are worthless when there is no willingness to compromise. We should not forget that in 1997 a Founding Act was signed between Russia and NATO refraining from the threat or use of force."@en1
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